A new paradigm for being a conscious being here and now on beautiful Planet Earth. A cross between "synthesis", "renaissance", "cryogenics" and "benthic"..."a flowering of creativity that's extremely cool and very deep." And the name of a yahoo e-group I started in 2002, now with around 1800 members, mostly friends of mine. Cheers Jeff

This article was originally written in 2003; quite a few changes need to be made and much new material added. Soon I'll be posting the updated version but for now, the basic idea is clear: the real world we are living in is FAR freakier than any science-fiction ever conceived. Stay tuned for my new radio show 'On the Brink' with Jeff Wefferson on UCY.TV for a lot of discussion of these topics.

We live in the real world…we travel together on Spaceship Earth, a beautiful planet of blue and green, blessed with wondrous gifts of land and sky, of mountain and cloud, of river and stone; graced with the presence of myriad life-forms whose sheer improbability is astounding, ourselves among them. We are truly lucky to be here; the fact of our existence is real and undeniable; in the words of Lewis Thomas, “the probability of any one of us being here is so small that you’d think the mere fact of existing would keep us all in a contented dazzlement of surprise.” Astronomers tell us that the Earth is the third planet from a typical G-type star in a spiral arm of a typical galaxy among trillions in a universe of unknown expanse. Are we special and unique? Are we microscopic and insignificant? Are we the center of the universe? Do we matter at all in the grand scheme, and if so, to whom, and why? Despite our “media environment”, a complex configuration consisting of the summation of (mc)2 [amplified mass-communication], which both educates, informs and entertains us as well as creating a “wall of infotoxin” so pervasive that it threatens to replace our experience of the natural world, each other, and ourselves…regardless of our obsession with “unreality”, the Earth herself and her cosmic context are our TRUE home, and always have been. Good science-fiction has always been my favorite genre of both film and literature; good science-fiction has often been the precursor of future science-“truth.” In many ways the world today is looking increasingly like a b-grade science-fiction movie. Although we as a whole are living in immense denial of much that is going on around us, and have become “psychically numbed” from refusal to cope with the vast complexities of the “big picture”, each of us, as living, breathing beings feels within the depths of our being the conflict between the underlying harmony of nature and the “life-out-of-balance” of the current global scenario, what the Hopi Indians of Arizona call “koyaanisqatsi.” We try to hide behind the facades of utterly irrelevant mass-media, wasting our time in endless pursuit of the mindless goals of a consumer world-view, drowning ourselves in a sea of drug and alcohol addiction. But in moments of lucidity, we become fully aware of the immense depradations being committed against sacred lands and indigenous peoples on every continent; of the the dire social, economic, and ecological catastrophes created and exacerbated by highly centralized and utterly corrupt minions of the corporate/bureaucratic military/industrial juggernaut raging out of control; we know of the threat to all life in the oceans by the US Navy’s low frequency sonar system; we know of the unsustainability of the fossil fuel scenario, the danger of genetically engineered life-forms, and the spectre of nuclear annihilation, intended or accidental, not to mention our toxic wastes and by-products which contaminate the biosphere. Whether we want to be aware of it or not, we each feel the conflict within ourselves because each of us, along with all other life-forms on the Earth, ARE an integral part of the web of life. We are quite literally on the brink of the unknown; In the words of Barry Brailsford, “we stand at the greatest cross-roads ever reached by human kind.” So where do we go from here? I think that we are crossing a threshold into a new paradigm that is beyond science-fiction…a new level of awareness which is a synthesis of leading-edge science reality, spiritual psychologies, metaphysical philosophy and multidimensional artistic creativity; a new world view which recognizes the inter-relatedness of all things, the power of individual action and creativity attuned to our highest knowledge; a way of being and living which utilizes leading edge science and technology, guided by the full spectrum of indigenous wisdom to which we are heir. I call this new paradigm “synthaissance cryobenthics.” It is a hybrid term created from “synthesis”, “renaissance”, “cryo-“ (which means “cold”) and “benthic” (which means “deep dwelling”, as in down in the ocean). Hence, “synthaissance cryo-benthics” is “a flowering of creativity that is extremely cool and very deep!” This new paradigm is extremely diverse and interdisciplinary, but probably the most fundamental dimension is the recognition that we ARE the ultimate technology. All life-forms and ecosystems, ourselves included, are brilliant works of cosmic genius. We all have innate powers and abilities which are just waiting to be brought on-line and developed, once we wake up to who and what we really are. Each of us is a unique work of cosmic art; we each have our own contributions to make. Once you have begun to actualise your internal technology, you can then regain your brain from the powers that be, who, in the words of Diane Harvey, “powerfully discourage individual mental development through impressing the notion of superior external authority.” You can also begin to network with other minds on similar wavelengths, accessing and sharing diverse reservoirs of alternative information. Because what we call “creativity” is by its very nature unbounded, the rest is literally up to us. When you look around at the Earth and bring yourself up to date on the state-of-the-art in what we know, the real world becomes freakier and more miraculous than ANY science-fiction movie. The dynamics of Spaceship Earth and the Gaia hypothesis; the knowledge of ancient and existing indigenous cultures, much of which has to do with long-term cycles of solar and astronomical phenomena; the “ancient harmonic languages” which are based on the vibration of the spoken word; the mysteries of the Mayan calendar, whose current cycle ends in December 2012; the true identity of the whales and dolphins, large-brained mammals who have lived harmoniously on the Earth for millions of years longer than we have; the unexplored dimensions of shamanic experience and the “consciousness” of DNA itself; the profoundly disturbing scenario shared by Dr. John C. Lilly (with whose dolphin communication group I worked in the early 1980’s) of the battle between water-based life-as-we-know-it, and a solid-state, silicon-based “intelligence” vying for control of the Earth. The real world does not run on money, petroleum, heroin, or gold; the real world runs on fresh air, water, sunlight, gravity…and most importantly, love. Again, in the words of Barry Brailsford, “we are the ancestors. We are the sum of all that has ever been. When we acknowledge this we step into the real world.” Where we go from here is up to us all. Do we matter in the grand scheme of things? It matters to us, if to no one else…we are the passengers/crew of Spaceship Earth. We are the artists of our own design, and co-creators of whatever we perceive our “reality” to become. The time is now to make a difference that makes a difference.REFERENCESThe Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight, Thom HartmannCulture Jam: The Uncooling of AmericaTM, Kalle LasnStupid White Men, Michael MooreBrave New World Revisited, Aldous HuxleyPower Versus Force, David HawkinsBeyond Prophecies and Predictions, Moira TimmsThe Lorax, Dr. Seuss